1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a conduct-along system for adding expressions to sounds and/or images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Everybody knows it is more pleasant to play music than merely listening to it. Without the ability to play a musical instrument, however, it would be difficult to master playing music. Yet, most people would feel resistance in starting a primer of a musical instrument, together with children. In recent years, desk-top music (DTM) that allows novices to enjoy playing music on a personal computer is attracting people's attention. Even with DTM, however, a knowledge of notation is needed. Furthermore, a knowledge of techniques peculiar to DTM, such as the MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) format, as a standard musical data format in the world of computer music, is essential.
The following methods for adding expressions, such as sound volume and the tempo of playback, to musical or animation data that are played back from time to time have heretofore been known.
(1) A method in which the operator gives expressions data real-time to musical or animation data using a slider or foot-operated control.
(2) A method that gives data statically by editing graphs and numerical data on the computer screen.
The aforementioned method (1) requires a slider or foot-operated control. Furthermore, setting too many parameters simultaneously involves many controllers, making it difficult to operate the system as well as to master how to set parameters.
With the aforementioned method (2), on the other hand, data have to be statically given in advance. This makes it difficult to give desired expressions to voices and/or images at will because what expressions would be provided from the data cannot be readily predicted without sufficient knowledge.